Almost empty palette to work with

How do you think this would look?

I have a lot of open space... but here is one area where i'd like to have a ground cover.
I'd think WinterGreen would look great here, and if it's invasive, that's ok.

I'll be adding more areas later... this will keep me busy this spring/summer

any comments are always appreciated

Terese

I thought that this was an interesting article.
http://www.arthurleej.com/p-o-m-jan04.html

Looks as if it's a very pretty plant and evergreen too. I haven't seen it in person before.

doss... thanks for the link. interesting.

originally when i first saw this plant last year.... i thought PERFECT!! the berries will be great food for the abundance of squirrels and birds we have. and it is a very attractive plant (not cheap though)
I just hope/wish it was a fast spreader.

here is a pretty wide open / area that needs work/color

i think smack-dab in the middle of that top image that is a hosta... but nothing is coming up yet.
Aside from that... I dont think there is any foliage here.

I'm thnking bushy full colorful plants... shade plants of course.
was thinking nice astilbes and some other stuff.

anything jump right out at ya?

**edited to add...

i was thinking - first off, to cover the lattice work. that will be step 1.
there is some low bush type of plant... no idea what it is yet that you can see near the bird feeder, which has day lilies around it.

This message was edited Apr 23, 2007 6:42 PM

The area is so large that you will most likely want to put evergreens along the fence and then mark beds in a nice sweep in front of that, and then leave the front open or with groundcover and stepping stones so that you can reach into the beds. A lovely curved bed would be very pretty there. Or it may be large enough that you could put a path in through it so you could have beds on the fence side and the front. The best thing here though is to divide and conquer.

I"m pretty zone challenged as far as plants for your zone. Hellebores are nice and evergreen but not tall. You could use a mix of lovely evergreens there if they were small enough that you don't have to cut them into balls to make them fit. I love the foliage of the astilbes. I'm a big fan of ligularias, polygonatum, ginger, ferns etc.

You could even underplant with a japanese maple or other small understory tree.

I think Wintergreen would be a great choice for the first area. I've been thinking of using near some hostas in my yard.

I went to the site of a nursery that is in Madison, Wi (which is about 30 minutes from our RV park)

here is what they say about Wintergreen:

Lots of compost would be a good start.

tcs1366,
What is the name of that nursery? I am trying to start a patch in my yard where old woods where left untouched for 40 years.

enya... JungSeed.com

i'm not positive where it is at... but madison somewhere.

I got their catalog this past winter/spring -- and figured since it was close enough... i'd pop on one day while i'm up there.

**edit to add URL

https://www.jungseed.com/jungsitedefault.aspx

This message was edited Apr 26, 2007 10:04 AM

Thank you. The company seem to have expanded and has a few locations now https://www.jungseed.com/jungsite/jungsiteCustServ.aspx

have you ever been there??

I think there are some "nurseries" on rte12 going into Baraboo... I'll have to see what we have close to home incase i want to look around ... but i want to check out Jung's.

I went to their Verona store listed as Madison, WI, 3 years ago. Jung has good reputation around here.
I did call about availability of the plants. They only had 12 in store today, and the cost is $7.95 per plant.

You are so lucky! You could have some wonderful trees, shrubs, perennials and bulbs in this area! What a gift! Good luck and let us know how you get on.

tcs - Hate to be a party pooper (again, deja vu), but this plant does not do well in IL. Not that there aren't exceptions, and esp. if you create a raised bed, you can create the right conditions for it for awhile. An easier choice would be pachysandra. Here's a useful link about how to plant a groundcover. Remember to water until established!

http://www.ext.vt.edu/pubs/envirohort/426-609/426-609.html

Thanks Prairie -- any idea on how it does in Wisc in sandy soil??
that is where i'm planning on planting it.... and i have tons of pachysandra up there already.

thanks for the link... off to read it now.

It prefers moist, humusy soils, like in the Pacific Northwest.

So you already knew that Pachysandra would work, LOL.

If you really don't mind invasive, goutweed is pretty tough. I plan to plant this in the railing along the bottom of my fence. Sure it will eventually rot it, but hopefully not for a few years LOL. So will the dead leaves that blow in there every fall, and this will keep them out, freeing me from that tedious, yearly chore. But I digress. This is very hard to get rid of once you plant it, so make absolutely sure you want it. Another tip, wear gloves and wash them right away when you're done planting. This plant can cause an itchy rash.

Vinca vine, and wintercreeper are two other commonly planted groundcovers. I have the variegated vinca, it's easily clipped to contain it, and is extremely hardy. I had a little plant left over from a windowbox one year, but it hasn't spread much at all. I do wack it back when it gets ratty on the edges, and I never water it, so maybe that's why LOL. I'm planning to try wintercreeper or euonymus on my lattice under the deck (same as yours) this year. Euonymus is a shrub that wants to be a vine LOL.

'Gro-Lo' sumac is a native that I personally would choose for your situation, to fill in on the ground.

Here's the link telling you how invasive goutweed is. On second thought, maybe not LOL

http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/546/

Here's one about the Gro-Lo.

http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/76815/index.html

Wintergreen! Brilliant! I've been looking for a groundcover and this fits the bill. The woods just north of us are filled with it. I remember picking and eating the berries when I was a kid. :)

Thanks for the great idea!!

thanks Prairie -- I main reason i was looking into Wintergreen, aside from it being pretty... is the berries. With all the birds and squirrels in the woods.... this would give them a nice snack.

the 'Gro-Lo' sumac is pretty... i wish there were berries...and i dont think the area in question gets "any" sun.
but i like the fact it's a fast grower.

Well it does have a drupe, but I don't know if birds like it. It tolerates shade fine. Maybe 'Autumn Magic' chokeberry instead?

http://www.hort.uconn.edu/plants/r/rhuaro/rhuaro1.html

http://www.hort.uconn.edu/Plants/a/aromel/aromel1.html

I have dry shade on most of my property. What grows well as a ground cover for me
are wildginger, vinca, sweet woodruff. Vinca is evergreen which is nice, it always looks neat. But it's everywhere, and I wanted something different. Wild ginger dies back as does sweet woodruff. The latter is more sensitive to the low temps. Late frost this spring did kill it to the ground but wildginger handled them just fine.

I am playing with epimediums and found that some are capable of spreading to form a cround cover. I love these plants. Once established they are supposed to grow fine in the dry shade. Mine are just a year old so can't testify how true that is.

I want to grow wintergreens for their herbal qualities and because of my childhood memories. So I'll try it again. This time around I'll add water crystals to the soil and see if that helps to retain moisture better.

Nice discussion of the ground covers going here.

enya~ Was the wild ginger easy to get established. That is so pretty, but I've heard it can be slow?
True story. Every groundcover I loved at the Chicago Botanic Garden turned out to be an epimedium. I never knew there was such a big variety of them. They seemed to do well in either part sun or shade.
If you love wintergreen, by all means keep trying. I think if you have a lot of leaf mold to add to the soil, that might help lower the pH and retain moisture as well.

Epimediums would be wonderful!

I found a site by googling "wild ginger" [which wouldnt work right for me]
http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/consumer/factsheets/groundcover/groundcoverindex.html
and i'm finding some possibilities.

I've got a short list going... but so far i think the leader is "Liriope Spicata" [creeping liriope] due to the 'berry-like fruit'

With our wacky weather lately, I would be tempted to try these (raspberry and blueberries).

http://virginiaberryfarm.com/Fruit_berry_plants/groundcovers.htm

Wildginger (Asarum canadense) is very easy to get going, not to be mistaken with Asarum europaeum. The latter is a slow grower and is smaller. Asarum canadense will stand pretty much on it's own with no care provided by you past the point of planting and watering it for a week or so.

I am propagating it on the northside of the house. It's a slop of about 40 degrees, so it drains very quickly, and it's full shade. I am planting it there for two reasons - need pretty ground cover and erosion control.

This message was edited May 14, 2007 9:45 AM

well, i had called BlueStonePerennials due to their 50% off sale (ending today) to find that they have the "teaberry/wintergreen creeper/checkerberry" at $3.48 per 4" pot. so i ordered 5.

i hope they do well -- i should have asked about a plant guarantee but didn't

i also ordered a few more hostas (june, blue angel and montana Aureomarginata)
2 pink bleeding hearts, a RED SWITCH GRASS

and i literally forgot to order the golden moss sandwort... but i figure i can get that next year... .but that was actually the reason i called them was to get info on the sandwort... oh well..... guess i was so excited about the creeper - actually finding it... that i forgot to add to my order.

once i get the order and all of it in the ground... i'll post back some images.

though -- for the second image i posted, the one with 2 pics... that area i'm not doing anything with yet... there are a few hostas i plan to dig out as my dog likes to dig back there... so not sure what i'm gonna do yet.

i still have a long a way to go.

terese

I bought two gaultheria from Bluestone this year and installed them in pots on the front porch where they are doing very well so far.

Thanks Don.

The plants I got earlier (Mid-May i think) are doing very well too.

I think for next year, though it may be hard to wait... but i'm going to try to get a lot of my plants when they go 50% off.

So far, i have been very pleased with BlueStone... very good customer service too.

Terese

Enya -- I got my Wintergreen Creeper. I ordered 5 of them and 1 of the 5 were a lil wilty. Got'em all in the ground (sand) and watered them... the next day.. all fine and dandy.

hopefully they will do well and spread very nicely.

I had mine in pots since yearly spring. Lost half of them but the other half has new growth. Now I am a bit affraid to touch them. I lost the one that I planted last fall. It was up early spring, but squeerels dug it up and did not leave next to where it was growing. Screens work well for bulbs in the fall but for plants I need to get some wire cages. I can tell how many plants I lost to those little tireless paws constantly digging where they should not.

oh.. that's a bummer!! i'll have to keep a look out. I know we have gray squirrels and those lil red ones that dont look much bigger than chipmunks.

but -- i'll keep you posted on their progress.